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John Prescott, who famously punched a protester who threw an egg at him during a 2001 election campaign, today offered his support. He tweeted: “@SimonCowell I'm here if you need to talk.”

Holt – a BAFTA-nominated composer – and her band, Raven Quartet, had appeared on Britain's Got Talent as contestants in 2012.

In a blog post written shortly after their appearance, which has since been removed from the internet but has been quoted by the Daily Mail, Rachael Lander, one of Holt's bandmates, wrote: "We had to acknowledge the grim truth, which was that Raven needed a bigger profile to get any kind of deal.

"We could get a load more gigs if we played to 15 million viewers, even if those viewers were of the opinion that a dog with a hula hoop constituted entertainment gold… We were uncomfortable that we were, by entering, complicit with the exploitation of the vulnerable to be humiliated in front of millions. But we had made ourselves publicity whores, we’d made our bed, we had to play."

Although the other members of Raven were quick to take to Twitter to disassociate themselves from Holt's actions, it appears that they share the same cynicism about the music industry.

As Holt's message to me demonstrated, this was more than a "silly", spur-of-the-moment attack, and also more than a publicity stunt on behalf of her musical career.

It was a calculated demonstration of disgust at the contrivance of the music industry, and Simon Cowell's influence upon it.

Since last night's attack Holt has gained around 4,500 extra Twitter followers.